Louis Pasteur Park

Located on 52nd Avenue between 248th Street and Marathon Parkway, this park honors the extraordinary achievements of pioneering French microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). The son of a tanner, Pasteur was raised in Arbois, France. He received his primary education at the Royal College of Besancon, which awarded him the bachelier des lettres in 1840 and the baccalaureat des sciences in 1842. In 1854, Pasteur’s began his life’s work in Lille, France, an area known for its wineries. The budding scientist developed an intense interest in the process of alcohol fermentation. In 1857, following three years of experiments, he became the person first to conclude that fermentation, the process by which sugar becomes alcohol, results from the presence of microorganisms. Pasteur’s fermentation hypothesis, which today is known as germ theory, was the first to demonstrate experimentally the existence of microbes.